Is Wolf Quest 3 Sandbox?

[Isiforo.s]

... or do you have to travel map to map for progress again? no matter what it's going to be great I guess, but I wanted to get sure. Cheers

[Dinocanid]

It's a complete remake, so you will have to do the missions again (finding a mate, raising pups, etc).

[loboLoco]

Same mission sequence, but each map and mission will be somewhat more sandboxy.

[Dinoman]

Originally posted by ZackGee:

... or do you have to travel map to map for progress again? no matter what it's going to be great I guess, but I wanted to get sure. Cheers

To outline the features as have been shown to us:

Your primary quest is still to seek out a mate, but rather than be confined to certain territories, they will be wandering around the map and must be tracked down by scent and vocalization. It is unknown if, as in 2.7, mates are locked behind an experience total or not because experience has not yet been shown in 3.0.

Rival wolves will also be a constant threat. They too wander the map freely, though generally confined to the territories of their respective packs, and may decide to attack you. Unlike 2.7, the combat is in real time and requires proper maneuvering to avoid attacks while landing attacks on them. Or, you can avoid a fight outright and run away.

Elk herds will constantly travel the map, affected by the time of day and potentially the presence of other predators, mostly the rival wolves. If you intend to hunt them, you have to actively track them down now. And unlike in 2.7, they won't just stand there and take it. They may take turns pummeling you and trying to drive you off, or your presence could cause widespread panic and a stampede which you'll have to chase down, all while deciding what your wolf could potentially take and thus finding a target in the chaos that you can take down. Even the elk calves in episode 1 will present inherent danger if their mother decides to help them, so no hunt will be without its challenge.

Basically, the game is going to be a lot more 'alive', and that in itself makes it more of a sandbox. There's a living world that you must react to and it, in turn will react to you. You have to decide if you're strong enough to defend the elk calf you worked so hard for against the trio of pack wolves that have come strolling out of the forest. You have to decide if the mule deer you've spotted in the distance is worth the time and effort to chase down.

Your decisions will in turn affect your gameplay going forward, including into episode 2 and 3. Will you want to mate with the lazy, cowardly wolf that doesn't participate in most hunts, but on the other side of the coin, will you want to mate with the more energetic but impetuous wolf that runs headlong into a fight you probably won't win and may not respond to you trying to urge them away? Will you risk having a smaller litter of pups by playing as a black wolf and mating with another black wolf, knowing there's less margin for error to raise what few you will have when Episode 2 is re-released, and also knowing you won't have as many to help hunt with the release of Episode 3?

All these actions have consequences, and we can only assume there are more that remain unseen as of now due to what we know of 3.0. There have been talks about what the varying settings of difficulty will entail, including potential permadeath or mate permadeath in the very hardest settings.

So, on that note, I'd say it's pretty sandboxy. Every new game is a chance to tell a different story, for a different wolf that can be portrayed differently from the last in its acts and emotions, its future mate that will also be its own individual, and their eventual firstborn litter which too will act as their own individuals and the potential that not everyone will make it to see the next spring...

[Isiforo.s]

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated. I'm looking forward to this.